Located along the busy
Ploen Chit Road
, in between shopping malls and in the shadow of the sky train nests Wat
Pathumwanaram Rajaworavihara or Wat Srapathum with itís beautiful white chedi.
Most tourists probably never even realize that there is a temple in this
location. Especially in the heat of the day this is a good place to get some
rest and find some shade under the trees in the temples garden. It was built at
the same time as
Srapathum
Palace
during the reign of King Rama IV. The Viharn of the temple houses important
Buddha images, which were brought from
Vientiane
, Phra Serm and Phra Saen. The temple was built in 1853 and was surrounded by
rice fields. Today, the temple is sandwiched between the Siam Paragon shopping
complex and the Central
World
Plaza
. We go to Wat Pathumwanaram everytime when we are in Bangkok, like on the 5th of December
2008 for the morning prayer with the monks, which included a special birthday
prayer for H.M. The King.

The temple
was right in the middle of the political unrest in 2010 and was also undergoing
renovation work when we visited in March and September 2010. The occupation by
so many protesters has obviously left it's marks on the temple grounds, however
it is always a good place for a meditation in the large hall behind the main
temple buildings.